The rapier began as a Spanish 'dress sword' worn with everyday clothes
Spaniards called it the espada ropera, the dress sword, because gentlemen wore it as part of their outfit. The long, slender thrusting blade became a badge of nobility across 16th- and 17th-century Europe, and its English name may come from a French nickname meaning grater.
The Spanish term is first recorded in a poem attributed to Juan de Mena, the Coplas de la panadera, dating from around 1445 to 1450. English and German picked up rapier almost simultaneously in the mid-16th century from the French rapière, itself from espee rapiere, recorded in 1474. In German the verb rappieren meant both to fence with rapiers and to grate tobacco. Masters of the time simply called the weapon a sword: espada, spada or épée.
A typical rapier weighed about a kilogram and carried a blade 2.5 centimetres wide or less and at least 104 centimetres long; some early 17th-century Italian examples reach 130 centimetres. It was built for quick, nimble thrusts, although some were sharpened for cutting, and the master Pallavicini, writing in 1670, insisted on two edges. Its sweeping hilt featured rings projecting from the crosspiece, later filled with plates that evolved into cup hilts, a knuckle bow over the grip, and a heavy pommel to balance the long blade.
Fencing masters divided the blade in different ways: the forte, nearest the hilt, for strength; the debole, including the point; and sometimes a middle section. Fabris used four divisions and Thibault twelve. Thibault also mocked advocates of long blades, recommending that the cross sit level with the navel when the point rests on the ground. Four surviving rapiers even have extending blades, perhaps for surprise in a duel or to dodge laws limiting sword length.
Distinct schools grew up in Spain, where the art was called destreza, dexterity, and in Italy and France, and the 18th-century French small sword continued that tradition. Rapier fencing now belongs to Historical European Martial Arts, and the Society of American Fight Directors counts rapier and dagger among its eight core stage-combat disciplines. Archaeologists also use the word for an unrelated Bronze Age sword.
Source: Rapier
